A new MCAfee global report titled “The Hidden Costs of Cybercrime,” conducted in partnership with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said that cybercrime costs the world economy more than $1 trillion, or just more than 1% of global GDP, which is up more than 50% from a 2018 study that put global losses at close to $600 billion. Beyond the global figure, the report also explored the damage reported beyond financial losses, finding 92% of companies felt effects beyond monetary losses.
“The severity and frequency of cyberattacks on businesses continues to rise as techniques evolve, new technologies broaden the threat surface, and the nature of work expands into home and remote environments” said Steve Grobman, SVP and CTO at McAfee. “While industry and government are aware of the financial and national security implications of cyber-attacks, unplanned downtime, the cost of investigating breaches and disruption to productivity represent less appreciated high impact costs.”
The survey revealed 92% of businesses felt there were other negative effects on their business beyond financial costs and lost work hours after a cyber incident.
KEY FINDINGS
Global losses from cybercrime now total over $1 trillion, a more than 50% increase from 2018
Two-thirds of surveyed companies reported some kind of cyber incident in 2019
Average interruption to operations at 18 hours; average cost more than half a million dollars per incident
IP theft and financial crime account for at least 75% of cyber losses
56% of companies said they do not have a plan to both prevent and respond to a cyber-incident
